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The tweet was posted.
They declared it a mental health break, which was desperately needed.
Punz @Punztw
hey guys, I know this is kind of out of the blue but streams are going to be put on hold indefinitely for a mental health break. i’m sorry
Shortly after a second tweet was sent, he’d gotten emotional and anxious, tweeting hopeful that nobody would forget him. The support that rolled in was insane, but it didn’t stop the flood of emotions.
Punz quickly powered off their phone, suddenly overwhelmed. It was tossed onto their bed.
He could have called his boyfriends, or even drove over, or simply text them so they could talk to someone. But he felt like a burden.
They sat in the dark, his back pressed against the side of the bed (eerily similar to the time Dream found him hungover and little). Crying was inevitable, he was an emotional guy. That was just a side of him he avoided sharing with chat and the rest of the world.
His phone being off made him feel oddly isolated from the world. Nobody was there to say hi, there was no Twitter with thousands online to chat with.
They’re alone.
Punz got into bed, curled up around a pillow longingly he hugged it tightly. He cried himself to sleep for no particular reason, other than feeling down and lonely.
***
They had all seen the tweet, a lot of fan interactions involving edits and fanart has been spread around since then.
But none of them had heard from Punz, even after numerous texts and a couple of attempted phone calls.
Dream had reassured them to let it go for a day or two since often he cut himself off from people when having emotional moments like this. But after two days of not a single answer, Sapnap was the one who broke first.
“I can’t— you guys…” He anxiously paced the living room in front of them, they all watched from the couch. “I’ve seen Dream do this y’know… back then. It fucks with me, I can’t stomach not knowing if he’s okay or doing something dangerous.”
“Okay, I get it.” Karl smiled sympathetically.
“You can go,” Dream stood, “Bring him home.”
So that’s what he did.
Sapnap made the drive and used Punz’s spare apartment key to get in, all the lights were off. The place looked severely unlived in, so Sapnap made his way to the only other room of the house (other than the bathroom).
He nearly sobbed. With relief or heartache? That wasn’t clear.
Punz was curled up in bed, currently asleep. Sapnap had to gently shake him awake, afraid of startling the blonde. They had awful bags under their eyes, which watered immediately as they opened.
“Sapnap…?” His voice sounded so small, so vulnerable. Sapnap dove down to hold them the best he could. Punz immediately started to cry. “I’m sorry—”
“We were just worried about you, angel.” Sapnap hushes. If you asked him, he would have told you how breakable Punz looked at that moment. “I’m bringing you home, can I?” They nodded, that was all Sapnap needed to carry them to the car.
***
Punz had fallen asleep on the short drive back, so Sapnap carried him inside and tucked them in on the couch. George had taken it upon himself to stay there too, he slid into the small space between the cushions and Punz.
Dream was making dinner in the kitchen while he talked with Karl and Sapnap, as he told them what little Punz had told him.
“He had barely moved for the past two days… I’m glad he’s here.”
Karl consoled Sapnap, wrapping the shorter boy in a tight hug and swaying together. It always hit him the hardest when any of them went through anything like that.
“We all are, babe.” Dream mused. He scraped the last of the pasta into the final bowl, standing proud of his ability to make mac and cheese. Normally he’d make a nicer and healthier dinner, but tonight was for making Punz comfortable. “Go get them, please? Food’s ready.”
“Kay.” Sapnap smiled fondly when he saw the two had moved, Punz had shifted so he was properly cuddled up with George, the two had their arms around each other.
But that also meant Punz had to wake up a little to move, so when Sapnap nudged him his eyes opened.
“Hey sleepyhead,” Sapnap teased. Punz groaned and tried to hide his face, but Sapnap wasn’t having it. “Dream made dinner, you’re eating with us.”
With no room for argument, Sapnap woke George while Punz sleepily shuffled into the kitchen, the other two were happy to greet him.
“Sleep well?” Dream kissed Punz’s temple as he placed the bowl of macaroni in front of them.
“Mhm…”
The other two joined, but George had dragged a blanket with him and sat huddled up. As they all started to eat, Punz stared off a little, he hadn’t touched the food.
Everything was starting to hit them at once now.
They went missing for a couple of days, Sapnap showed up out of nowhere, and now he was here. Being taken care of and loved like… almost like they deserve it.
Karl poking their arm snapped them out of their thoughts.
“Just a couple bites, please? You don’t need to eat all of it.” He sighed but listened, starting to slowly take bites of their comfort food.
“Do you think you’re ready to talk?” Dream urged. Punz hated the inevitable, but he knew they deserved to know what happened, but more so he knew he needed to get everything out.
“I don’t know, I just… I’m supposed to be happy.”
“Why?” George looked confused— they all did.
“Because my life is good! I have a great job, a good fanbase, amazing relationship… Why am I sad?” They sniffled.
“You don’t have to be poor, bullied, or miserable to struggle with mental health. You know that, right? Anyone can,” Sapnap hummed.
“Yeah but—”
“I’m serious. You realize George is the only one in this room who hasn’t had an episode like that? He still has his days though.” George nodded, just a simple confirmation he did have his moments too. “The point is, we all struggle.”
“You’re not alone, Luke.” Dream’s voice was firm through it all, always confident in what he said. It showed him being genuine.
“I don’t deserve you guys.” Punz sighed, rubbing his waterline to avoid crying right now.
“You deserve the world.”
“And more,” Karl tacked on.
Dream took their bowls to rinse off in the sink, he was sure to whisper a quiet praise to Punz for how much he’d managed to eat.
“Now, we can talk more later and figure some things out about this. But for now we should…”
“Wanna smash?” George cheekily held up his (Sapnap’s) switch, Dream lightly smacked him on the back of the head.
“We can not play Smash all the time just so you can make stupid sex jokes.” They all laughed at George’s pout— he was known to repeat jokes over and over again. Although, they all found it endearing.
“Whatever, there’s other games too, Punz pick!”
“Okay, okay.” The shorter blonde smiled.
They all piled into the couch to play Mario Party— per Punz’s request since it didn’t take a whole lot of energy to play.
Just like when the others had their days, nobody expected them to be better. All they wanted was to keep them safe, comfortable, and okay.
So when Punz started coughing when he laughed too hard, they knew it would be okay.